Prelude to the Birth of the National Hero

Sera, Maryam S.
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Heroes, scientists, inventors, innovators, and such have greatly contributed to the society

today. It quite helped us develop through times of civilization by civilization. Today, living in an

advanced and techy world now, somehow, makes life easier and cozy. With just one click on the

web, we will be directed to a site where we can find all we need. The world has been progressing

drastically. However, as we move forward and explore, the society would never forget how we

progressed and the contributions of our ancestors that had been passing down unto us, the things

that still benefit us until the present time.

Starting from The Reformation which mainly involved Martin Luther that started around

late 1400’s to mid-1500’s. Prior to that, during the European middle ages, the Catholic churches

really dominated the European’s civilization. The catholic church has been the caretaker of the

soul of the people and oversees the rites being held like baptism, marriage, and others. They also

provide social services and gives alms to the poor and the orphanages. They also provide what

education is available at that time. Also, that time among them only one can read the bible which

is their Parish priests. Along with that, their institution owned a third of the lands giving them

power and the pope to be a successor of the Roman empire. Conversely, one man did not like

what the churches had been doing. Seeing the corruption in the church, especially the sale of

indulgences, he then left the church and started his own.

When Luther was in Wittenberg, he came across Johan Tetzel who came to sell

indulgences an indulgence was a donation to the church that came with a promise from the pope
to reduce a sinner’s time in purgatory. He, then, wrote 95 theses against indulgences and

dramatically nailed them to the churches’ doors.

Luther’s position became increasingly radical starting from the statement “Christian’s

were only be saved through faith and the grace of god” he made. He then exposed that the

churches’ rituals did not have the power to save souls and that the church and the pope made

errors all the time. His saying “Priesthood of All Believers” had gone from a reformation to a

revolution of indulgence.

In 1521, Luther had been called to defend his ideas before the Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V in the imperial of Diet of Worms. Although, a lot of radical friars have been

contradicting the churches exposing their abuses, Luther was the one who gained popularity and

became influential. One reason for that was the printing press. During that time, a lot can read

especially the priests, so when Luther published his works it has been the talk of the town. As he

made translations of the bible into German, it made the people print a lot more copies and others

would keep it in their pockets and bring it with them. Later, Luther’s protests started creating a

lot of spin offs like the Zwinglians, the Calvinists, and the Anabaptists. Then the spin offs had

another spin offs too on such religious aspects. Luther’s efforts created a great rift in Western

Christianity and dominated European politics for several centuries as western Europe split into a

largely Catholic south and a Protestant north.

A transition from The Reformation to The Scientific Revolution (1550-1700), has also

been in the move in Europe where a lot of scientist developed the emergence of modern science

during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy,

biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about

nature. Despite that, efforts of these scientists are all neglected and dismissed by the churches.
 It started with Copernicus’ published work “On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres”,

determining that the universe is Heliocentric that the Sun is in the center rather than the Earth.

The reaction of the Catholic Churches to this was a whole negative. Just as, in 1600, how they

burned Giordano Bruno for teaching Copernicus’ Heliocentric findings. But, prior to that, in

1572 a Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, spotted a new star and in 1577 he spotted a comet.

Tycho Brahe was, then, responsible for major changes in observation upon the rejection of both

the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems.

In 1609, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler placed the Copernican hypothesis on

firm astronomical footing. Kepler announced two new planetary laws derived from Tycho’s data:

(1) the planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits, one focus of the ellipse being occupied

by the Sun; and (2) a planet moves in its orbit in such a manner that a line drawn from the planet

to the Sun always sweeps out equal areas in equal times. With these two laws, Kepler abandoned

uniform circular motion of the planets on their spheres, thus raising the fundamental physical

question of what holds the planets in their orbits.

In the early 17th century, Galileo Galilei used the telescope, a recent invention of Dutch

lens grinders, to look toward the heavens. He was obsessed in science especially its mathematical

features and calculations at the base of Copernicus’ Heliocentric Theory.

In 1615, Galileo announced observations that contradicted many traditional cosmological

assumptions. He also went to Rome to teach the clergy about the heliocentric universe and

convince them of its accuracy. But then in 1616 they were only convinced that it was heretical,

and Galileo promised not to teach that the earth moves. Nevertheless, in 1632, he published a
book concerning the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems. Then, in 1636, the Roman inquisition

found him guilty of heresy and forced him to recant to avoid execution. Later, in 1992 the

Catholic Church finally admitted publicly that the judgement for Galileo Galilei was indeed

wrong.

This scientific approach also spread to other fields like the medical field where ancient

medical theories unravel. An English medical doctor, William Harvey, announced that the heart

is a pump to provide blood for the body based on such surgical and dissections he performed.

Also, Rene Descartes at that time wanted to prove his own existence that he said “I think,

therefore, I am.” He also wrote that we cannot doubt our existence while we are in doubt.

Another scientist of the century was Sir Isaac Newton who formulated “The Theory of

Universal Gravity”. By means of his laws of motion and a gravitational force proportional to the

inverse square of the distance between the centres of two bodies, Newton could deduce Kepler’s

laws of planetary motion. Galileo’s law of free fall is also consistent with Newton’s laws. The

same force that causes objects to fall near the surface of Earth also holds the Moon and planets in

their orbits. Newton’s physics led to the conclusion that the shape of Earth is not precisely

spherical but should bulge at the Equator

In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution was the transition of new manufacturing

processes in Europe and in the United States from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and

1840. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain because of the mass explosion of new

ideas and technological inventions.

 Discoveries through discoveries led them to a new source of fuel which is the coal. From

this, they developed the steam engine, any heat source can be used to raise steam, to perform

mechanical work.

A lot of innovations and developments were made during this time such as

textiles, steam power, iron making, and invention of machine tools that later spread around the

world. But this steam power has been an icon in the Industrial Revolution. Just as steam engines

needed coal, steam power allowed miners to go deeper and extract more of this relatively cheap

energy source. The demand for coal skyrocketed throughout the Industrial Revolution and

beyond, as it would be needed to run not only the factories used to produce manufactured goods,

but also the railroads and steamships used for transporting them.

Mercantilism was also at the height managing these growing economies that nations

would try to increase their wealth by exporting more goods than they were importing. It was a

good economic policy to increase their wealth and power. Entrepreneurship was also used by

creating a company or a factory to broaden the work and production and to also give people jobs

but pay them little money.

Although, this industrialization increased income and economic power, it was a lot more

difficult for the poor people that slavery has been also evident during that time. These slaves

were forced to work and have only a little pay which makes it a struggle for their living

conditions were very unhealthy for any person to have. They were used to increase their owner’s

wealth by being forced to work despite the rising economic growth in these places adapting the

Industrial Revolution.
 The United States soon followed the path of industrialization from the Great Britain’s

innovations transforming into their own. Such were homegrown inventors like  Eli

Whitney. Whitney’s 1793 invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the nation’s

cotton industry (and strengthened the hold of slavery over the cotton-producing

South).

By the end of the 19th century, the United States transitioned from an agrarian society to a

highly urbanized one. Industrialization then became well established throughout the western part

of Europe and America’s northeastern region in the mid-19 th century. Then by the early 20th

century, the United States has become one of the leading nations in the Industrial Revolution.

It may be as progressive as it seems, it is still inevitable to face the consequences of

adapting to modernization. Industrialization has both its advantages and disadvantages. Negative

effects were the unhealthy and unsafe working conditions of the workers paid with a lower salary

and pollution from coal and gases continue to be the struggle of today’s generation. On the other

hand, transition from period to period came down to what we have today that all became useful

and made our everyday life easy and accessible. It all only depends on how we manage the usage

of the things we have. We have to be responsible for human activities and the consumptions of

our resources.
 In the 1500’s, an Augustinian

monk and university lecturer

in Wittenberg. He composed

Martin Luther his “95 Theses,” which

protested the pope’s sale of

reprieves from penance, or

indulgences.
The Swiss Reformation began

in 1519 with the sermons of

Ulrich Zwingli Ulrich Zwingli, whose

teachings largely paralleled

The Reformation Luther’s.

In 1541 John Calvin, a

French Protestant who had

spent the previous decade in

exile writing his “Institutes of

the Christian Religion,” was

John Calvin invited to settle in Geneva

and put his Reformed

doctrine—which stressed

God’s power and humanity’s

predestined fate—into

practice.

Scientific Revolution Tycho Brahe During the 16th century,

 Tycho Brahe was, then,

responsible for major changes

in observation upon the

rejection of both

the Ptolemaic and Copernican

systems.

Copernicus’s theory,

published in 1543, possessed

a qualitative simplicity that

Ptolemaic astronomy
Nicolaus Copernicus
appeared to lack. He

developed the Copernican

theory that determines the

universe to be Heliocentric.
In 1609, the German

astronomer Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler placed the Copernican

hypothesis on firm

astronomical footing.

Scientific Revolution Galileo Galilei In 1615, Galileo announced

observations that contradicted

many traditional

cosmological assumptions.
 He also went to Rome to

teach the clergy about the

heliocentric universe and

convince them of its

accuracy. But then in 1616

they were only convinced that

it was heretical, and Galileo

promised not to teach that the

earth moves.

Rene Descartes at that time

wanted to prove his own

existence that he said “I

Rene Descartes think, therefore, I am.” He

Scientific Revolution
also wrote that we cannot

doubt our existence while we

are in doubt.
Formulated “The Theory of
Isaac Newton
Universal Gravity”
Industrial Revolution Invents the first steam engine in
Thomas Newcomen
1712
John Lombe In 1719, the silk factory is

started by John Lombe. Located

in Derbyshire, Lombe’s Mill

opens as a silk throwing mill,

the first successful one of its

 kind in England.
1733- The simple weaving

machine is invented by John

Kay known as the Flying

Shuttle. The new invention

John Kay
allowed for automatic machine

looms which could weave wider

fabrics and speed up the

manufacturing process.
1784- The ironmaster, Henry

Cort came up with the idea for a

puddling furnace in order to

make iron. This involved

Henry Cort making bar iron with a

reverberating furnace stirred

with rods. His invention proved

successful for iron refining

techniques.
Industrial Revolution 1801-Richard Trevithick, a

mining engineer and inventor

drove a steam powered

locomotive down the streets of

Richard Trevithick
Camborne in Cornwall. He was

a pioneer of steam-powered

transport and built the first

working railway locomotive.

George Stephenson 1816- The engineer George
 Stephenson patented the steam

engine locomotive which would

earn him the title of “Father of

the Railways”.
1839- James Nasmyth invents

the steam hammer, built to meet

James Nasmyth
the need for shaping large iron

and steel components.

REFERENCES

 https://www.history.com/topics/reformation/reformation#:~:text=prolific

%20reformers%20combined.,The%20Reformation%3A%20Germany%20and

%20Lutheranism,reprieves%20from%20penance%2C%20or%20indulgences.

 https://www.britannica.com/science/Scientific-Revolution

 https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Timeline-Industrial-

Revolution/